I’m excited to be part of this Crazy Christmas Event where so much talent and creativity is brought to the table.

Today I am bringing you Pistachio Cherry Meltaway cookies. I always do things full throttle and I was on a quest for a cookie that was not only festive looking but actually tasted good too. I love meltaway cookies and thought that a pistachio version would not only taste amazing but would have the Christmas green color that I wanted. Meltaway cookies don’t have any eggs in them but are made from butter, powdered sugar, and cornstarch to create that melt in your mouth taste. Since pudding mixes already have cornstarch in them, I thought it would be the perfect component in my version of a meltaway cookie.

I experimented and made no less than four batches of these cookies trying to come up with the perfect combination for a buttery pistachio flavored cookie with bits of maraschino cherry throughout. At one point I called my husband at work and pleaded with him to stop at Costco and pick up more butter on the way home! I can hear the treadmill calling my name…

I love the flavor of maraschino cherries and the flavor goes so well with pistachio. At first I poured some of the cherry juice in with the dough for some extra flavor. Epic fail. Red cherry juice + green pistachio dough = dishwater brown. Not festive at all. Experimenting some more I found that
I thankfully could have my cherries and eat them too by simply chopping them finely and patting them dry with a paper towel before adding them to the dough.

Directions:

With a stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, pudding mix, and flour. Mix until combined. The mixture may seem dry at first but will come together after beating.
Add the almond extract and green food coloring if you want the cookies with a brighter green color.
Finely chop the maraschino cherries. Using a paper towel pat the cherries removing all of the juice and excess liquid. You want to make sure you dry all of the red juice or you may turn your cookies a not so pretty color. Gently mix in the chopped cherries.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes or until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Take a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place cookie on the cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. Once completely cooled sprinkle cookies with additional powdered sugar.

I’m Christy, a self proclaimed foodaholic, and mother of five kids. My motto is to try everything once and I’m slowly, ever slowly learning moderation. Growing up as the youngest of ten kids we always had a lot of food around. Did I mention that I really love to eat? On any given day you can find me in the kitchen cooking with my kids with the tunes cranking! I share stories and recipes over at The Girl Who Ate Everything. Come follow me on Facebook and Pinterest.

Thanks so much for sharing! We loved having you guest post today! XO

Make sure to follow the Crazy Christmas Event HERE all through the holidays. We have some fabulous bloggers that will be sharing crafts, recipes, decorating ideas and handmade gifts!

I just got finished making a batch of these cookies and not only are they festive and fun looking, but they are delicious! I don’t think they will last long…I’m going to have to make another batch before Christmas. Thanks for the awesome recipe!

I just baked these cookies tonight and they turned out wonderful! I followed the recipe exactly and made 3 batches! Each batch yielded exactly 2 dozen cookies! Thank you so much for such a great recipe! :)

Can’t wait to try! I love anything pistachio! I’m not a fan of cherries so I’m wondering if craisins will be a yummy replacement. Also chopped up pistachios & white chocolate chips sound good in them too! Okay, I’m getting a little crazy!

I found this recipe this past week through pinterest and was excited to try it out this past Sunday. I followed this recipe to a “t” and saying that I am extremely disappointed is an understatement. There was no taste in the batter, and I gave it the benefit of the doubt and baked a dozen as a test and they were flat, disgusting, and tasted like sand. Thinking maybe I didn’t freeze the batter long enough, I let it sit in the freezer for another 45 mins, did a test run again and the same results. Hoping to get it to work, I froze it for about 3-4 more hours and the same results. I am hoping that no one else attempts this recipe! I am well seasoned baker and can make anything from a traditional Black forest cake, homemade cannolis, to a simple few ingredient cake that you would die for.. Maybe you forgot an important ingredient in the recipe listed!

I am not a baker. I also followed the recipe exactly. I tried to eat one fresh out of the oven, but felt it was too buttery. I let them sit for a day (some in a plastic bag in the fridge, some just on the counter in a plastic bag) and BAM–> AMAZING! My office had a bake off and I won for best tasting !!!

I made these this evening and they didn’t taste good at all. I kept thinking maybe I left out an ingredient but I didn’t! They tasted like sand as the woman above said. I’m not sure what I did different from everyone who said they were so good. I am also a seasoned baker as well. Not sure what went wrong!

These cookies are awesome. They are very much like shortbread so if you like sweet cookies, you will not like them. Also, I chill the dough overnight so maybe that helps to bring out the flavours more. They do NOT taste like sand.

My only complaint is that they do not spread like in the picture so you have to sort of form them in the shape you want.

Had to comment after reading the bad reviews. Just finished making these and they are delicious! I followed the instructions exactly, except I didn’t leave them in a ball. I followed another reviewers comment and shaped them. They are really good